Disclaimer: Not mine, none of it

Collins thoughts in italics

Collins POV

Thursday, November 1, 1990 11:55am

Collins looked around the Life Café. From his seat in the corner booth he could see the entire restaurant that had been the favorite hang out of his, and all his friends for the past several years. He smiled sadly as he remember that night after Maureen's protest that they all were together for the first time as a "family". Even Benny was there, although he wasn't exactly joining in the fun. It was more like the fun was at his expense. Poor bastard, I'm sure he meant well, he just forgot what it's like to be a boho boy. He's comin' around though. Leave it to our Angel to bring him back into our lives even after killing his dog… and even in her death. Collins could almost here the laughter and singing from that night. He closed his eyes, and could feel the energy that had whirled in the air as they danced on the tables and toasted everything thing about life that they could think of. He chuckled quietly to himself as he pictured Mark spastically dancing in his own little world. Maureen and Joanne groping and kissed each other without a spark of embarrassment or apology. Roger and Mimi found peace and happiness in each other for once. Well, that was good while it lasted. I know they'll find that again…. I just hope they do while there is still time to enjoy it. And of course, there was Angel, who was always so full of joy and life. While everyone else was letting go and tearing down walls (albeit temporarily), Angel was simply being who he was, who she always was, everyday. She was generous, and caring, and she brought love to everyone who knew her. And now she's gone. And here I am. Left in a world that was here before I knew her, but one that I can hardly imagine living in without her.

"Collins!" For a moment Collins thought Maureen's voice was a part of his daydream of a night almost a year ago. It wasn't until the drama queen actually jumped on his lap that he realized she was actually there in person.

"Oh! Maureen! How are you, girl?" he said, finally hugging her back.

"Much better now." She said, with a hint of seduction in her voice as she wrapped an arm around Joanne's waist and gave it a squeeze, while still sitting in Collins lap.

"Are you two…" Collins finished the thought by pointing from one to the other, eyebrows raised.

Maureen giggled and took Joanne's hand and kissed it. Joanne smiled down at her and nodded.

"Yeah, we went home and talked things over last night. And then we-"

Collins put his hand up to protest whatever was about to come out of her mouth. "Ok, ok, I got it!" He laughed, shaking his head.

Joanne smacked Maureen's arm playfully and tried to sound forceful, "Maureen!" She couldn't hide the smile that seemed to have taken up residence on her lips, though. Good for them. I knew they'd come around eventually. Now if only Roger and Mimi would…

"Hey guys!" Mimi chirped. Maureen leapt off Collins' lap to attack Mimi will a hug that should have knocked down the smaller girl. Wow, Mimi's stronger than she looks.

Mark walked up beside Mimi smiling shyly at the two women hugging. Benny trailed behind them, looking slightly awkward with his hands in his pockets. "Hey man, glad you could come." Collins said as he stood up to shake Benny's hand.

"Yeah, me too. How are you doing?"

"Oh, you know. Still here." Collins said with a smile, "Good to be with friends." He pat Benny on the arm and turned to greet Mimi who had effectively been crushed my Maureen, then squeezed a little more gently in a hug from Joanne. "Meems, how's my girl?" he held her lightly in his arms, with one hand resting on the back of her head.

"Oh, you know. Still here." She echoed his own words back to him. They laughed quietly with each other before pulling out of the embrace. Collins gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, and stroked her hair before looking away to find Mark, who was hugging Joanne. He watched as Mark and Joanne had a word-less conversation that seemed to end with the understanding that Maureen and Joanne had patched things up. He noticed Joanne give a questioning look at Mark, gesturing to the side of his face, Mark responded by giving a small shake of his head, rolling his eyes, and blushing. What the hell was that all about? The two laughed and hugged again. Collins smirked at the pair. Well, would you look at that. Those two seem have some sort of secret "Maureen victim" bond. That's sweet.

Before Collins had a chance to say "Hello" to Mark, Maureen finally noticed Mark was there and made quite the show of a greeting, as usual. Oh, Maureen, I wish you would just leave that poor boy alone. Although, on second thought, this is rather amusing.

He watched her fawn all over her ex-boyfriend. "Oh Marrky!" She squealed, catching him in a vice-grip hug, and kissing him on each cheek.

"Um… Maureen. It's great to see you, too, but, uh…. a little air?" Mark choked out after hugging her back briefly before letting his arms hang loosely at his sides. Maureen just laughed and ruffled his unruly, blonde hair before finally releasing him. She wasn't quite done with her somewhat unwanted attention.

"Honey, did you sleep like I told you to last night?" She took his face in her hands and looked into his eyes intently as though they would play back Mark's evening activities. Apparently she didn't like what she saw. "You didn't, did you? Mark, you look exhausted." Yeah, I'd be exhausted too if I knew I had to face a Maureen interrogation. "Oh my God, Mark, what the hell happened to your face! Were you in a fight? Were you mugged? Oh Pookie!" She lightly stroked the side of his head before crushing him in another hug.

Joanne sighed at her girlfriend's behavior. Mark caught Joanne's eye and gave her an apologetic and desperate look."Maureen, stop it. I'm fine!" He gently removed her arms from his waist and smiled reassuringly at her. "Just give me some tea and I'll be golden." Was that Mark trying to sound peppy? Did he really just say "I'll be golden." Oh man, I don't know about that boy sometimes.

Collins laughed,grabbed Mark's arm and pulled him away from Maureen before she could protest. He wrapped his large, long arms around the smaller boy's narrow shoulders. "Hey buddy. Glad you could make it. Thanks for dragging Mimi and Benny along too." He held Mark by the shoulders in front of him to get a better look at his friend and saw what Maureen must have been exclaiming about. The left side of Mark's head, near his temple was raised slightly and was a deep purple/blue color. "Ohhh, that looks angry. Really, what did you do, boy, fall off your bike trying to save your camera?" Speaking of which, his camera doesn't seem to joining us today. Huh. Mimi must be one persuasive chica.

Mark blushed and looked at his feet. Mimi put a comforting arm around his shoulders, "Actually, 'Grace' here played chicken with the coffee table last night."

"Um… what?" Collins laughed

"It's no big deal. I just woke up and forgot that I was on the couch, and the coffee table had to remind me. Nothing dramatic, no big story. Can we please stop talking about it now?" Mark's face was beat red and he refused to look anyone in the eye. Maureen snorted somewhere behind him, and Benny was smirking and shaking his head.

"I blame myself actually…. If I had just slept on the couch instead of taking over your bed you would have been fine. He claims to have forgiven me though," Mimi said, standing on her tip-toes to kiss Mark on the cheek. Mark smiled down at her.

"That's our Mark, always the gentleman. That's sweet. I'm glad you kept each other company." I guess I was the only one who spent the night alone last night, unless you count the always faithful stoli. Not that I would have been great company for anyone anyway.

"Come on guys, let's sit down and order! I'm starving!" Mimi clutched her stomach and started shoving people into the booth. Mark waited politely until everyone else was seated before sitting down next to Mimi and Benny. Just as they had taken their seats,the waitress lazily wandered up to their booth. She looked like she was bored to death and would rather be anywhere but there. She didn't look at anyone, but smacked her gum and mumbled, "Can I get you something to drink?"

"Um, yes, I'll have green tea please." Mark said politely, smiling at her, but she wasn't paying attention to see it.

"I'll just have a water thank you." Mimi said.

"Coffee, please. Black." Benny said. Collins had to swallow a chuckle at how business-like he sounded. Apparently the waitress noticed this too and finally looked up to get a better look at her customers. When she saw that they weren't a group of executives out for a lunch meeting, she popped her gum loudly and looked back down at her pad of paper.

"I'll also have a coffee, cream and sugar, please." Joanne said, giving Maureen's knee a little squeeze. Look at those two, they can't keep their hands off each other.

"Could I have a diet coke?" That's Maureen, forever watching her girlish figure.

"I'll have a diet water." Collins said, straight-faced, while Benny laughed and Mark snorted. It took the girls a few minutes to figure out that he was kidding, and soon they had all burst out laughing. Collins smiled his most charming smile at the waitress who stared blankly at him before popping her gum and turning to go. "Oh, and a round of champagne on me, thanks." The waitress nodded, scribbled on her pad of paper, and walked off to place their drink order.

Everyone was quiet for a few minutes while they looked over their menus. Collins had the menu memorized and already knew what he wanted. Pasta with meatless balls, oohh yeeah. He sat back in the booth contentedly and looked around at his friends. Maureen and Joanne sat next to him, holding hands sweetly under the table. Every now and then they would squeeze each other's hands and stare into each other's eyes. They are so in love, it's ridiculous. I hope they can hold onto that this time. Benny was sitting against the wall on the other side of the table. He looked like he was studying the menuas thoughit was going to give him the answers to life, the universe, and everything. He had yet to look up from it since they sat down. He must feel so awkward. The last time he was in here the same time we were, things were a little hostile between us all. But he's changed a lot since then… we all have, I guess. Mimi was sitting between Benny and Mark. She looked antsy and fidgety. She couldn't keep her hands still, twirling her hair, scratching her arms, rubbing her legs. She furrowed her brows at the menu like it was written in Hebrew and she couldn't decipher a word of it. She finally put the menu down, cleared her throat and folded her hands on the table and started looking around. She caught Collins' eye and winked at him with a flirty smile playing on her lips. Collins smiled back and raised his shoulders in a silent chuckle. Oh, Mimi. What are you going to do with yourself now that Roger's gone? I hope rehab works for you, girl. Maybe if you're clean Roger will come back to you, come back to all of us.

Finally Collins' gaze rested on Mark. Maureen's right, the boy doesn't look like he's seen a decent night's sleep for weeks. And that lovely bruise must feel really good right about now. He took in Mark's red, tired eyes and the shadows under them. His eyes had a glassy look, and it didn't appear that they were actually focused on the menu even though that was the general direction they were looking in. His skin was always ghostly pale, but today it almost looked translucent. His fingers were fiddling with the silverware on the table, and his fingers looked longer and bonier than Collins remembered. Are his cheekbones sticking out more than usual? If he gets any scrawnier he could start fitting into Mimi's clothes. Collins had to fight off a giggle at the thought of Mark in one of Mimi's ruffled mini skirts, ripped fishnets, and over the shoulder tops. I wonder how drunk Mark would need to be to dress in drag.

The waitress returned with their drinks. And took her pen out from behind her ear to take their food orders.

"What can I get you?" She asked, still completely unenthused about being there.

This time Collins started the ordering, which was met with the usual chorus of "eww" and "disgusting". He just chuckled and waited for the others to place their orders. He found himself getting lost in his own mind again, and didn't pay attention to the rest of the orders. It would have been nice if Roger had stuck around for this. Of course, if he was here than we'd all have to listen to him trading insults with Benny and throwing jabs at Mimi every chance he got. Mark would try to make peace and it wouldn't do any good. Maureen would get moody and that would throw some tension between her and Joanne that doesn't need to be there. Eventually I would have to drag the ex-junkie, rocker-wanna-be aside and tell him to cool it. Hmm, that actually doesn't sound like a heck of a lot of fun, really. But it would be expected, and in that way, almost comfortable. As much as we all seem to be getting along right now, there is still an almost tangible gap where Roger should be. And Angel? I can almost feel her with us here, telling us to keep moving and that we need to be together today. Too bad Roger didn't quite get that message.

"No way, Mark. You are not going to get away with having just your tea." Mimi's voice returned Collins to reality.

Mark stared at Mimi, silently pleading with her to let it go, but she wasn't backing down. She stared back with a defiant look in her eye. The waitress just stood there looking as though she was torn between walking away, and waiting for Mark to change his mind. When Mark didn't change his mind, Mimi broke the stare and addressed the waitress, "Then I'll order another veggie burger and a side of fries which you can go ahead and place in front of him," she said gesturing to Mark who had closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat, looking very dejected. "Sorry, Mark. It had to be done. Just think of it as one last favor to me before I head off to rehab hell."

Mark opened one eye to look at her, before closing it again. He slowly leaned forward until his head rested on the table lightly. He sighed audibly and when he picked his head back up he was grinning a goofy, lopsided grin. He reached over and picked up his glass of champagne and held it up. "Here's to Mimi's newest adventure that she will be embarking on later today. May rehab hell be worth it, and may she come out on the other side to greener grass and healthier, happier days, and with a few extra dollars in her purse as an added bonus."

"To Mimi!" the group cheered simultaneously.

"To rekindled love! To us!" Maureen shouted, kissing Joanne on the lips passionately. Joanne blushed lightly and ducked her head.

"To road trips, too bad Roger's taking this one alone. Wish you were here, buddy. Drive safe, stay on the right, and take your AZT." Mark added.

"To guardian angels, and one in particular. May she watch over all of us as we take our respective journeys. Keep us safe, keep us together. To Angel." Collins gave his toast with a soft smile and soft voice.

"To Angel." They raised their glasses and drank to their fallen friend, their guardian angel.

"So, Mimi. What's the name of this place you're running away to?" Collin's asked, breaking the silence that had washed over the group after the toast.

"Oh, um… I'm not sure…" Mimi looked at Benny for the answer.

He cleared his throat, "Uh, it's called Safe Harbor. It's about ten minutes outside of the city. It's supposed to be decent I hear."

"I knew someone who worked at some rehab center in Georgia that actually had a dance at the end of the program. It was supposed to be some big incentive to finish the program, a reward. Can you imagine? A rehab prom?" Maureen said, shaking her head so her curly locks bounced around her face.

"Oh, that is hideous!" Mimi laughed. "Ug, I hope they don't have anything like that here. It would be an incentive not to finish the program."

"Oh, I don't know. Dancing can be therapeutic. Right, Mark?" Joanne smiled and winked at Mark. Who, of course, blushed a deep shade of red and lowered his eyes.

"What's this now?" Ok, now I'm intrigued. Joanne and Mark actually have an inside joke, and it involved dancing no less.

"Just ask Mark to tango with you sometime. He's quite good." Joanne smiled into her coffee and tried to look casual.

Mark moaned and rubbed his eyes. "You all must truly hate me."

"Awww, Mark. I didn't know you knew how to dance! And to think, all those times you watched me try to get Roger to dance with me, I should have been asking you. I can't believe you just kept that a secret!" Mimi lightly slapped Mark in the arm.

"All these years that I've known you. Who knew you had it in you." Collins shook his head and laughed. "Benny, did you know about this?"

"No, sir. That I would love to see."

"Ok, now I'm really pissed. My girlfriend gets to tango with my ex-boyfriend? Mark, I begged you to take me dancing when we were dating, and you said that you had two left feet! I can't believe you!" Maureen pouted and sunk down in her seat. Collins didn't miss the playful glance she sent Joanne's way, or the way she squeezed Joanne's knee under the table to let her know she wasn't really upset.

Marked groaned again. "I do have two left feet, I can't dance, I learned how to tango back in Scarsdale, and when I met Joanne we found out we both knew how to tango, and that's all I'm telling you horrible people."

"I still say you owe me a dance." Mimi said firmly.

"In that case, you owe me about 20." Maureen giggled. "Oh, food!"

"Oooh, yeeeah." Collins rubbed his hands together in anticipation. There were a few whoops from the gang at the welcome site of the waitress coming toward them with a large round tray of food.

"Dig in!" Mimi ordered cheerfully, giving Mark a pointed look before taking a big bite of her veggie burger.

The group grew quiet as everyone ate, enjoying their meals, and enjoying each other's company. This was going to be the last time they'd be all together (minus Roger) for quite some time. So here we are. Mimi's heading off to rehab, in a couple weeks I'll be heading back to New England to start a new job, and who knows when Roger's coming back. Mark has to go to work at Buzzline in half an hour, and just like that, this'll be over. I'll be back for Christmas, and who knows what things will look like then. Why do I feel like everything is changing? Why do I feel like this is it? I just want to hold on to this - this moment. Just a little while longer.

Ok, that's it for now! Mark's POV again next.

Again, thank you all for the wonderful reviews! And feel free to tell me to just give it up if you think I should stop with this writing business.

Stay tuned!